welcome to al jazeera america. here are the top stories at this hour: the white house tonnes answer questions on the problems on the problems that plagued the affordable care act. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius on wednesday will testify in a house hearing. the administration's first apology for the failures came tuesday, from the head of medicare, marilyn tavenner. she said this most problems will be fixed by the pd of november. >> america's spy chief denies reports that the nsa secretly eaves dropped on thousands in spain and france. keith alexander says they didn't conduct illegal activity, and

told a house intelligence committee, that he would rather face a media bashing than give up a program that could stop a terror attack. >> one year after superstorm sandy, officials say more work is needed to rebuild. the hurricane caused $55 billion in damage. >> the dow jones hit a high on wednesday, closing up. investors are expecting the federal reserve to scale back plans in relation to the bond buy-back program. "consider this" is up next.

>> one year after the superstorm sandy the eastern seaboard is still recovering. after billions were pledged for the recovery why are so many people still homeless and why has so little of the money basketbalbasketballbeenspent. >> president obama's tenure has seen it's share of controversy. how is his approval rating so high is he the second teflon president. >> and hard-core fans spend countless hours into the fantasticsy football league should they be able to spend money and b bye buy shares. >> we begin with superstorm sandy. 12 months after the storm batter theebattered the northeast. many are still waiting to rebuild. al

jazeera reports from a stat staton island neighborhood that turned out to be the deadliest place to be in new york. in 2012. one year later recovery seems unlikely if not impossible. some chose to spend the day in somber reflection. >> terrible. i wouldn't want to live here anymore. anyone that dog does are frightened. >> she drew u drew up here grewt her summers on the beach. >> many home tha hope that the t will buy people out. this was one of the hardest hit areas by sandy. twenty-three people died and two people on this block alone. and residents say less than 25% of their neighborses have neighe returned.

at this restaurant friends gathered in the bar john toto's grandmother ran the restaurant for decade. decades. he brought the property 25 years ago to keep the family tradition alive. >> i had photos when my grandmother had it the 1950 hurricane. but he doesn't plan to rebuild the house next door. >> i'm done. a ththe storm surged eight foot waves. >> hopefully more and more people will come back and our lives will get back to normalcy. >> the chamber of commerce had a block party to lend support. >> with a third of businesses nearby still closed many people are not in the mood to celebrate any time soon. >> joining me now are congressman

gregory neaks. and joseph popello and president an ceo of zone a it's a non-profit that helps people hurt by hurricane sandy. i thank you all for joining us. congressman i would like to start with you. the cost of the storm has been enormous. one estimate is that sandy has cost $65 billion. 27,000 people households have not basketbal been able to go be in their homes. why are we in such a bad situation right now congressman? >> i can speak for some of the residents in the rockaway peninsula which i represent. some of these individual lost theilosttheir homes they burnt e ground. it was devastating and the process of getting those homes back up it's been difficult. we have to figure out what makes

the process work in a faster way so that we can get those individuals back into their homes. we tried to do in new york city an innovative program called "build it back" it was the first time that fema has done it. and there there has been some ks and some folks had better results than others. we have to keep working at this until we get every person back into his or her home. >> people are still recovering from katrina eight years later. so it's a lot of work to be done in a year given how much sandy damaged. now the small businessed azation ha--administration has approved $2.4 billion in lozenges bu loas only dispursed 24% of that. why is that being held up? >> again a lot of it is red tape and paperwork, verifications. i know for example in rock away i had to go to bat tooth and nail to get the loan money for the largest manufacturing company that we have on the

peninsula. like madeline chocolate. >> why are you having to do that? the president came to the area and said the red tape was going to be thrown away and expedited. why are you working so hard to get things done. >> for some it's verification to make sure there is no fraud and you want to make sure that the dollars are utilized in a certain way. we wante want verification to te place so the money is not going where it was not intended to. we want to get it where it's supposed to. some good folks that are needing the money are delayed in getting it. we have to streamline that process. >> we have to do it in a more efficient manner. >> we have seen a lot of fraud after natural disas a disasters in other parts of the country. >> you lost your home and the pictures of what happened are devastating.

rutgerss says new jersey state has 3-pn billions of dollars needed. >> we have a lot more work to do and people that are frustrated and not back in their homes. it took 92 days for congress to act on aid for sandy victims. it was ten days for katrina and 17 days for gustov. you are in a new home and new mortgage why ar why are you notg the aid you needed. >> i got a letter stating i was on a waiting list. that was six months ago the only thing we were eligible for was a 30 year loan to relocate because this was not enough money to

even build again. >> and people where you are from, union beach, new jersey peoplpeople there are angry? angry, frustrated and they were given so much hope and hundred handshakes. the govenor came recently. yes handshakes and pro promisesd they are still in trailers if there are trailers there it's totally empty. >> what are h they saying to the govenor? >> they are asking if this and that and he is making promises. and they are just hughessing hope. - losing hope. you don't want to lose hope when that is all you have. talk about hope, you have been in the business of giving people hope. we are looking at before and after pictures in staton island. you live an work wit and work we people.

people are still living in their backyard. >> that is true. people are still living in their half built homes. i think it's you know, it's a first time for new york. there is a lot of coordination between the federal, state, city government. and we are just seeing the beginning of these programs getting under way it's extremely frustrating and people are beyond impatient. one of the problems is that people have started rebuilding themselves. >> and by doing that people have put themselves in a position where they are going toward the end of the line for help. they are going to get reimbursement which is not a priority because people are back in their homes. i'm working closely with people helping them understand how these programs work so they can be, participating . >> stat stonstaton ey island is an interesting situation. the government has come in and

bought out whole whole neighborhoods. could that happen in other neighborhoods in staton island. is there. that could happen in other neighborhoods in sta staton ala. it was an area that was inundated with floods. and the day after the storm they are like, we are going. it was also part of a city plan to eventually turn that area into wet land in part of the storm water management system. >> congressman the rockaway community you are representing we still remember the burnings -- burning homes and still today a third 69 homes remain unoccupied. how long do you think it will take before this comes back to life fully. >> well again the homes that were burnt to the ground i went

out to breezy point and bell harbor. and this weekend we have been going back and forth with a number of individuals. and i saw the signs of frames of the homes going up. but they have decided to come together to get that done themselves. and we are working as feverishly as we possibly can to get 15% of the people in rockaway who are still not back in their homes. part of the problem for some is they are looking for direction. there are new standard on how high your house is supposed to be. they don't want to rebuild and it's no the at the flood level it should be. and then they are told they can't get insurance or they need to tear it down to start over again. when they rebuild they have to make sure it's at a height level that is approved by the city and the state. some have slowed down and

hesitated and because they don't want to rebuild twice. >> that brings up the reality that these areas have been vulnerable. they have been talking about putting sea walls along staton island and the rockaway for a long time. why hasn 't it happened. >> it's starting to happen now. previous to the storm when it we were asking for those items the money wasn't there. there was a today that was done. forfortunately we had the moneyo put the dunes and the sand replenishment and wh jetties et cetera. i know in the rockaways they have started phase one which is putting the do yo dunes and sano protect people again. and they are going to finish the study in the next year and put in place the essential elements to protect the people from having this kind of devastate,

storm again. so, it takes sometime. this doesn't happen overnight. and i know that for anyone who is victi victimized by it, every that goes by is too long. to do a full plan to make sure it's done right it is going to take a lot of time. >> is that the way to go. natural solutionings in staton island taking things back to nature. using dunes versus sea walls. >> it's going to take a combination of things putting together. the reconfigure configures reconfigl infrastructure. and it's a comprehensive approach that has to take place. in response to the capital fridaprojects that were in the e line. after two years when they happen. they don't get funded and

reallocated they never happen. the same thing happened at fox beef wherbeach. they never happened. no one pushed politically it get them done. and now we are at a disaster at this level and now we are going to say what are we going to do together? all of these pieces together to make it work? we have to build krerktl correctly. >> anna what do you and your neighbors hope will happen? >> what we all hope will happen is that we get to rebuild and go home. the money, wherever it is comes in. instead of promises and red tape and nothing coming out of it. >> >> what do you tell to the congress man. i hope whatever he can say or he can say on that his promise or word is more likely to have us go back home instead of telling

us what is going to happen and it did happen and it's not happened. >> congressman a final word what would you like to tell your sit constituents and everyone that has suffered from this storm. >> i can tell you this is a bipartisan issue so far especially those that represent the part of the east coast that was devastated by the storm. democrats and republicans alike we are putting our elbows to the grind and doing what he w we ca. to make sure that we expedite the kind of services and need and resources to get our constituents back home and back to where they were. what we want to do is make sure we build it back and back better than it was. see people can go back to work and fix our board walks and i

will assure you we will continue fighting until we get that done. >> an important effort a lot of people depend on it. i wish you all the best of luck with your efforts with all of the people tess tim. it's time to see what is trending. >> there are a bunch of articles on al jazeera website that focus up on ways to protect ourselves from the next big storm. if we don't do anything. new york and new jersey and miami could account for 3 i 3 3f the global flood losses. this year new orleans spent a 75-mile line of levies and flood walls and drainage pumps. and last year they had a homeowners an businesses upgrade for protection.

the hurricane sandy rebuilding task portion held a resign come tion. competition. diana fee signe designed these green floating marshes. they will decrease pollutants:they are trying to figure out how to anchor the noting marshes t -- floating marshes to the cities. new york city in a few short years will be a home only to fish. >> i hope henry is yonge. did wrong. >> president

obama's second term has gotten off to a rocky start. is he truly a new teflon president? what do you think? join the conversation on twitter and google plus and facebook pages.

>> no white house administration in modern times has been without scandals. the president seems to float above the grey. grey -- fray. and with the affordable care website still on life support, they have apologized for the problems before the house ways and means committee. when dave camp asked when congress will know how many people enrolled in obamacare he ran into a stonewall. >> folks are still in the process of enrolling and we'll

have the numbers available in mid november. >> you have no numbers on who has enrolled you have no no ide. >> we'll get those numbers in mid november. we'll get those numbers in mid november. >> how do you not know how howy people have enroll. >> we'll get those numbers in mid november. we'll get those numbers in mid november. >> and down the hall. >> these are caused by human error or technical problems. >> nothing that has been released has shown we are flying t --trying to do something illel or unprofessional. when we find something non-come non-compliance we report it. professor at george washington

university and senior fellow. thanks for coming back, good to have you here. during president reagan's first term democrat congresswoman of colorado said then of his perform angsperformance" he hasn perfecting the teflon coated presidency nothing seems to stick to him. ". to him." does president obama have teflon base. >> the democrats are terrified, horrified is the better word for what they see hang i happening e republican party. ronald reagan took office after four failed presidents in a row. johnson and nixon and ford and carter were all failures.

people wanted him to succeed. >> president obama's white house jim, has had it's problems. based on the comments the president didn't know it happened until they made news. the nsa spying on foreign leaders and the healthcare dot .gov and the irs and the gun running story and the administration has a lot to answer for. but it seems that none of these issues touch the president that directly. >> can i just wait until mid november to answer your questions, okay without what is playing out on capitol hill an may play out tomorrow morning when the classic washington search to burn a witch and the political gains manship. >> i think it's an interesting

matter which points to what is a curious management style. and it's why, you know, a huge difference with reagan. this is a guy who i think had heart academic community organizer an and combination of pga pga mattispga pragmaticism. it's a guy who sort of often and community organizer mode like when he was in the basements of baptist churches in the southside of chicago in key formative years. step back and let everything play out. and often is no the to not to worry.

i expect he is not hughessing too muc -- losing toomuch sheepp sheep. leep. he has a confounding decision to spend as much time as a young candidate getting ready for the caucus. he was proven right on the subject se "don't ask don't tel" and he didn't think the dimin ts right. and he was again proven correct. there was questions about the sort of folks that he has around him and the extent that they may on occasion shield him from bad news. >> what was it about his perform angst that th

-- performance not know what is happening in hissed administration ron. >> roronald reagan didn't know what was going on in the white house base. basement. what he does communicate with people is the sense of self confidence that jim just described. and that gives people fend if he has faith in his policies things are going to workout that encourages people to have faith in him. the president's quarterly numbers have dropped only 3%. that is and when you look at a "washington post" abc news poll you can see how the president's numbers have mostly stayed between the high 40s a and 50s throughout his presidency. jim considering he started his

administration with the worst recession since the 1930s do you think part of it is that he benefitted from it with low expectations. >> i think he benefitted from his choice of enemies. you know if you are walking through the streets of miami, phoenix or chicago, when folks talk about what is going on in this town, they will probably by and large point to congressional republicans. most recently when it comes to the government shutdown than to obama. it's impressive that on a relative basis that those ratings have proven fairly steady in october so far we don't see any big hike or we don't see any big decline. and depechble

depending on what one's expectations are. and if one is a republican expect a big decline as a result of the obamacare mess. neither has played out. bill is this part of the problem. congress is at 12% and the reality is that this is such a division and polarzation in the end no one moves to one side or the other. president obama has his people and the republicans have their people and they are not goings t-- going to move or favor eithr side no matter what. >> for 30 years this country has become more polarized. bhawobama came in promising to e the country. remember in 2004 he said this is no blo blue america and be no red america. st>>tthe republicans have been n objecton

o stinate. bringing up that speech where he was so optimistic. roronald reagan was one of the most optimistic president's in resent memory. and when it came to america he liked to say this. >> we can say to the world and pledge to our children, america's best days lie ahead. and you ain't seen nothing yet. >> jim do you see that kind of spirit of optimism anywhere in barack obama these days? >> i think there is some of it. i think to understand, one has to understand these key community organizing years on the southside of chicago before he went to harvard law school. the chicago years were critical. they answered the two big questions in life. what was his self identity as a

black man and what was his home if iit was chicago. you have a guy who is intellectually more complicated and more knowing so an and one sees things with a greater degree of complexity. there asthere is an interestingf raw idealism and cold blooded pragmaticism which one saw in the whole syria mess. his first impulse was to act in what he thought was the highest morally defensible way and go in there for the chemical weapons and the more he thought about it and what was going on in the u.n. and what the ramifications were w. h , he decided no. he headed back to the united

nation and threw it in their lap. >> bill, do you think any of these things will stick he has three years left. >> they are republican controversy. and they were trying to get the president involved. ronald reagan had the iran contra. and bill clinton had the lewinsky scandal and he survived and so far obama is surviving too. >> it will be interesting to he 15seewhat the next couple of mos will bring. >> straight ahead we'll hear from the husband of a woman in the central a center of a heartg story that has been a flash point of the suicide debate. >> and fantasy football . the idea of if you should be able to invest in your favorite players.

so many money stories sound complicated. but don't worry. i'm here to take the fear out of finance. every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real.

all next week america tonight investigates the campus rape crisis. >> serial rape is the norm on college campuses. >> i know that when i did report, i was blamed. >> then this friday at nine eastern, we open up the conversation in a live town-hall event. sex crimes on campus, a special week of coverage and live town-hall on america tonight nine eastern. only on al jazeera america.

emergency responders resuscitated him despite a do not resuscitate order. he still died four days later. >> advocatessen bot. >> ed advocates on both sides of the issue have spoken out. barbara's husband joe is. joining us and and we have the director of compassion and choices. gwen and joe thank you for being with us tonight. this was a man that was dying

and he wanted to end his pain by taking morphine that was prescribed for him in an admittedly large deadly dose. why is barbara in this position. >> that is the question that has to be answered. barbara has not committed any crime. he had chosen to go into hospice because of the many ailments you have described. he chose to die at home with his family who chose this position. barbara came to care for her father and he ingested the morphine and when the emt's arrived they took him to hospital and barbara to courts. court. she now faces a felony charge. this is a gross intrusion to a compassionate decision.

>> joe you are unde under a legg order but what has the personal toll been like for your family. >> the stress has been unbearable at times. for myself seeing barbara sad, depressed, angry, frustrated and threshe lost her job. and the stress she has seen her mom go thank you. you hav thankthrough.my mother e married for 63 years. my father-in-law was one of 12 12 children and his father died of black lungs disease and his mother died in his 40's. but he pulled himself up by the boot straps and educated himself and served in world war ii and it's surprising he survived that. he came back home and started his own business and was

successful. at 83 years old he climbed the ladder to roof the house. that is the type of man he was. at the end of his life he had multiple chronic illnesses and he knew he was dying and he accepted that. and my mother-in-law accepted that. they did everything they were told to do. he went out and had the power of attorney and he had the living wills and he hired a hospice and he whatn'ted to die peacefully and pain-free at home. instead my mother-in-law comes home and she sees her husk forced out oforce -- her husbant of the house. and she sees her daughter, my wife who has helped him with so many medical issues in the years being carted off to jail for attempted suicide. she is a nurse herself.

>> critics say barbara put the hospice worker in a tough position because she had to report it legally. and if she didn't call 911 she could be standing trial right now. , what should have been happening that day. >> the commitment of hospice is to have people have their end of life choices met. >> his choice was to be a the -- to be at home surrounded by family and friend. i fail to see it was a dangerous situation that a 90-year-old man in hospice was unconscious. the nurse called two supervisors and they violated their commitment by calling emt's and having that ininstitution and thash - intrusions. >> some people say this is something that shouldn't be prosecuted. but there are

those she threw the hospice wor workers phone against the walli wall to stop m from calling 911. what does the prosecut prosecut? >> bear in mind that the hospice nurse did testify that the phone was flown. thrown. at the time that the hospice nurse was there her father was unconscious. she told everyone the hospice nurse in the home and the super vicsuperrorssupervisors that ars up holding his last wishes and he should not be transported or revived.

and every single one of those entities failed and now barbara is paying the price for trying to up hold her father's end of life wishes. this is a chilling case and we very much urge the public to get involved to have these charges dropped. >> and joe, this is not just an emotionally hit on your family it's a financial hit. your wife's legal fees are $90,000 counting and she has been suse sus spended suspendedt the hospital. >> our fees have surpassed a 100,00$100,000 mark right now. i'm working over time and i work from 8:00 at night to 8:00 in the mornings. my job is hard enough as it is. but to make up for the lost income imaut i'm working extra shifts barbara is concerned about me

and my lack of sleep and health. it's been a financial strain. >> there are death with dignity laws in washington and oregon and montana and vermont that says a doctor can okay a patient committing suicide or taking whatever medication might let them die. that is farther than some of these other laws go. are you happy with some. laws that exist. >> they provide certain waiting period before someone can make the decision. >> while in some cases state laws do have waiting periods laws in many of the states you just mentioned and one important digdistinction is between death with dignity and suicide. death with dignity is about terminally ill people who are

very close to the end of their lives due to disease. they are mentally come ten compd they are making decisions. >> asighssighs assisted suicide laws are keeping desupo keep despondent people where their lives could be saved by counselling and other means. as society i thig i think we caa difference between a 90-year-old man in hospital and a despond ent personal with a gun. zbl.tgun. >> thank you for joix us -- joining us tonight. >> straight ahead, two different kinds of ich investing.

a global study find surprising attitude wher attitude after the recession. >> it's like a stock market for football and not everyone is thrilled about it.

>> every morning from 6 to 10am al jazeera america brings you more us and global news than any other american news channel. find out what happened and what to expect. >> start every morning, every day, 6am to 10 eastern with al jazeera america. down right intimidating when you think about buying stock you picture a big solid company like general motors or microsoft. what about buying shares in a professional athlete. air yaari an

foster oferre offered up a piece of imhad. him. here to talk about investing in athletes, from berkley, california is kevin ruse. and from atlanta, georgia. jamal anderson. kevin i will start with you. what exactly for sale here. what is a $10 investment in a share of ariain foster get you. it's getting you a share of a company. who has set up a private exchange and they are selling these shares to private investors. zblrntioif you or i buy one share it gives us a tracking share. so fantax comes up with a brand value for

foster which not only include his contracts but his endporsmenendorsement deals ande appearance fees he gets and income post football. even well after he has retired from the league. this will include any deals that he has to appear on tfl tv aftes career is over and any extra income that is coming inar his -- after his football career. >> an athlete could get injured and they don't have guaranteed contract in the n.f.l. and that athlete will have the money. on inside story, we bring together unexpected voices closest to the story, invite hard-hitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you.

millions who need assistance now. we appreciate you spending time with us tonight. up next is the golden age of hollywood going golden but elsewhere. why l.a.'s mayor has declared a state of emergency for the entertainment industry there. next. >> audiences are intelligent and they know that their

the head of the nsa defends the embattled spy agency, testifying before congress. congressman keith alexander says it helps keep terrorism in check. >> all eyes on kathleen sebelius as she is set to defend the affordable care act in a congressional hearing. >> one year later superstorm sandy is remembered. it was one of the most destructive and costly disasters to hit the united states. >> the ongoing war in syria - children diagnosed with polio because they don't have access to adequate health care